


Alone

by iridescentglow



Category: Without a Trace
Genre: M/M, Post-Season/Series 02
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2004-08-30
Updated: 2004-08-30
Packaged: 2017-12-23 16:25:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 497
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/928629
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iridescentglow/pseuds/iridescentglow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Danny and Martin drink together. Well, Martin drinks.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Alone

Danny lifts his glass slightly from the bar, watching the honey liquid roll almost to the rim. The ice clinks, and he replaces the glass without drinking. He watches the cloudy patterns left by his fingertips dissolve slowly from cold glass.

Beside him, Martin is on his third Scotch, drinking quickly and with sloppy disregard. His hair is ruffled by an hour's edgy fidgeting, and Danny can't help but find it endearing. He wants to push the hair back from his face; thumbs and fingers smoothing the skin. Instead, he places a hand on his arm. Martin flinches, although does not shake it off. The _flinch_ is something he learned from Jack, Danny is sure. The whiskey, too, is a new thing. Danny remembers Martin's old habits of two beers (bottled and light) and then home to bed. If he questions him, Martin will say, _it's been a long day_ , tilting his head back and frowning worldly wisdom. There's always an excuse. Danny remembers the first time Martin kissed him, the sweetness of a choirboy glowing in his slowly spreading smile.

Martin frowns, tossing back the remains of his drink. Danny retracts his hand and picks up his glass again. The ice is melting, and the sound of the whiskey sloshing back and forth, shallow circles around the rim, is becoming less precise. He lifts the drink, its sweet/sour, almost cloying smell filling his senses--

Martin swipes the drink abruptly, spilling a short trail across the bar. He takes a long swallow of Danny's drink and gives him a cold look that might be reproach or something else entirely. Danny can't really tell anymore.

Martin says something that Danny doesn't hear. He has climbed to his feet, sliding toward the door, and Danny must follow. The night air has the same quality as the heaviness of a glass in his hands, cold and smooth. Shadows swallow them as the dark bar segues into a darker street. Danny feels Martin's mouth finding his suddenly and decisively.

He tastes the liquor immediately, although it's sweeter, fuller, without the vinegar sharpness he equates with drinking on street corners ( _cold bottles, warm hands, producing a dizzy numbness_ ). Danny wonders whether Martin will be as hard a habit to break as drinking. He thinks of screaming cold turkey, and kisses Martin more forcefully.

He feels it inside of him; tiny holes that fray and tear a little further every year. He's got better at hiding it, but the wide smiles and complacent charm still don't glue him back together.

Martin is all over him now. His fingers thread through the gaps between his shirt buttons, warm breath suffocates against his throat. The invasion of space is intense and dizzying. Sam was Martin's functional relationship; his true stab at coupling. _This_ is what he found instead; Danny, and a need not to share.

All the things they will never say fill up his throat, and he feels as though he could choke.

**Author's Note:**

> _"You gave me_  
>  cold glass love  
> You've got teeth for biting  
> and you bore a hole in me"   
> **-Trespassers William, 'Alone'**


End file.
